Mama.. there goes that man!!!

JiNX thoughts on SNK 71: Shadis is kind of a dick!

Eren and the gang made it to the training site to meet up with Keith Shadis to see if he have any information that would be valuable to the SC. Here are some of my thoughts regarding Shadis in this chapter. I will make another post about Eren later on.

SHADIS… WHAT A SELF CENTERED DICK

Shadis lost a lot of respect for me in this chapter, but not all of it.

Shadis is a man that is driven by self worth, and what people think about him. During a conversation with Grisha, Grisha gave him a complement on going beyond the walls and being a member of the survey corps is for special and chosen people. As you can see this is his 1st time ever hearing something like this. This brings Shadis and Grisha closer, but l bet he wanted to hear that come out of Carla’s mouth and not Grisha, as we see in this chapter that Shadis obliviously had feelings for Carla, but Carla hated the survey corps. Later on an epidemic would break out and doctor Grisha will end up saving Carla’s life. In which, brings them closer together.

Gutted! Shadis is absolutely gutted! The bottom two panel is so important because everyone in attendance are expressing joy for Grisha and Carla being wed together, except for Shadis.

THE HURT! Shadis couldn’t even stay for the whole reception. On a real note, Shadis is feeling inferior. Not once did Carla think he was special. Carla thought he was an idiot for being in the Survey Corps, and now his relationship with Grisha and Carla will disintegrate because of his jealousy of Grisha being more special than him to win over Carla.

Shadis is now commander of the Survey Corps. He is heavily criticized, people saw Shadis command as a waste, so far as commander he hasn’t really achieved anything. Also, he is know for going a straight forward approach when it come to attacking titans during expeditions, which is getting a lot of his members killed. Even Shadis overhear that citizen saying that it is not a good look for everyone to die and Shadis is till coming back alive. People are actually starting to notice Erwin at this point with his tactics he implemented with his squad. Erwin did not lose a single member due to his tactics. Above are panels in which Shadis return from an expedition to find out that Carla now has a son for Grisha. With everything happening around Grisha he obviously take it out on Carla. Trying to make her feel less “special” and “important” in society because of her occupation and how she would never understand what is greatness.

You know what I like about the 1st panel? It could have been just an outburst after yet another useless mission, and it would have made sense like that. But that moment is much more significant. It is the moment Shadis finally admits, to himself more than anything, that he is not special. He’s just a normal person in an abnormal world. For all this time he selfishly seeked for people’s acknowledgement, that was all he wanted: to be noticed and recognized as special by everyone. And in this moment, the reality he built for himself finally collapses under the weight of the “real” reality. He loses his drive and does what he thinks is the only good thing he ever did: he passes the torch to special people. Special not only because of skills or intelligence but because their goal, their reasons go far beyond the normal, human need to be accepted and praised by others. They’re strong, so incredibly strong and they truly want to change the world, not only their reality.

Fast forward a couple of years, and Eren is now in training to become a soldier and Shadis is now an instructor. To avenge his mom from being eaten by the titans. In the 1st set of panels above you can see Shadis purposely damaging his 3D maneuver gear, so he won’t be able to past that stage and become a soldier. He does this not in spite of Eren because he’s not his child, but to “protect” Eren. He knew how Carla felt about the survey corps and he knew if Eren goes down this road of vengeance it would be highly likely he would just die. Ultimately though Eren does pass and Shadis tells himself that he was unable to change anything. Hence why this chapter is called “Bystander.”

Final Thoughts: I believe that Shadis had great potential in being a “special” in his terms. From what I can gather, I think he was an exceptional fighter, and most likely a great soldier to be able to be in line for a commanding position. Along the way, he got lost. He wanted all the recognition. Putting himself before humanity was his downfall and it snowballed on him to the point where he felt he was worthless. I believe if he would listen to the soldiers around him and seriously took everyone ideas (especially Erwin’s) he would’ve gotten the acknowledgement. Acknowledgement of being a great leader that utilize everyone under his command efficiently to get the job done and open a new era of success for the Survey Corps. Instead he took the approach of it’s my way or the highway. Shadis will have to take all the lives lost under his command to his grave. I wonder though…. will Isayama give Shadis redemption? Will we see Shadis in action in the upcoming chapters? With the fight with the Beast Titan coming, maybe he will have a roll. Maybe something he does will help Eren or save Connie (Connie wants revenge on the beast titan due to what he did to his mother) I don’t know. but I have a feeling that we haven’t seen the last of Shadis.